What's Wrong with Canadian Mining?
From
recent murders of
anti-mining leaders in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, to forced
evictions in Papua New Guinea (PDF), it is clear that
Canada’s mining industry has a problem.
For examples of the kinds of environmental and human rights abuse
allegations made against the Canadian Mining Industry see:
Toronto Star, Canadian Mining Firms Face Abuse Allegations, November 22, 2009
Canadian Mining Map
(PDF)
Toronto Star, Trouble at Canadian Mining Sites Around the
World (PDF)
The House of Commons
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade
says:
“The
Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Development has heard
evidence related to the activities of Canadian mining and other
resource companies in developing countries, including Colombia, Sudan
and the Democratic republic of Congo. . . . These hearings have
underlined the fact that mining activities in some developing countries
have had adverse effects on local communities, especially where
regulations governing the mining sector and its impact on the economic
and social wellbeing of employees and local residents, as well as on
the environment are weak, or non-existent, or where they are not
enforced.”
Supreme Court Justice Ian
Binnie says:
“You
cannot have a functioning global economy with a dysfunctional global
legal system: there has to be somewhere, somehow, that people who feel
that their rights have been trampled on can attempt redress.”
The UN
Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Business and Human Rights
says:
“The
root cause of the business and human rights predicament today lies in
the governance gaps created by globalization – between the scope and
impact of economic forces and actors, and the capacity of societies to
manage their adverse consequences. These governance gaps
provide
the permissive environment for wrongful acts by companies of all kinds
without adequate sanctioning or reparation.”